Family holds out hope for missing Erie teen

PRAYER VIGIL SCHEDULEDA prayer vigil will be held for missing Erie teen Jacob Samusenko.The vigil is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Bethel Baptist Church, 1718 W. 38th St. It is open to the public.

HOW YOU CAN HELPAnyone with information about Samusenko's whereabouts is asked to call Erie police Detective Sgt. Dominick DiLullo at 870-1156 or the Erie police officer in charge at 870-1120.

But family members are holding out hope that the 17-year-old is still alive and are praising the work of detectives on the missing-person case.

"They've been doing everything they can with the information that's been provided to them and with what they've been able to find," said Lyubov Rafferty, 25, who said she is the second cousin of Samusenko's mother.

"They've researched everything. Even just a rumor, they looked into it," said Rafferty, who administers the "Help Find Jacob Samusenko" Facebook page. "And still nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything and nobody knows anything. I can't make sense of that part."

Samusenko, of the 300 block of East Second Street, was last seen the night of Jan. 29 and was reported missing on Jan. 30. He is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds and has brown eyes. He was last seen wearing track pants.

Erie Bureau of Police Detective Sgt. Dominick DiLullo, who is investigating the case, could not be reached for comment Friday. Lt. Kirk Werner said Friday that the case remains open and "very active."

Rafferty described Samusenko as a "quiet boy, always willing to help."

"If you ask him to do something, he's going to do it. You didn't have to ask him over and over like most kids," she said.

He was a good student who wanted to enroll in Gannon University and become a physical therapist, she said.

"There's nothing that says, 'This is what happened to him.' That's the frustrating part," Rafferty said. "I am not frustrated by any means with what police have been doing. They're looking for him no matter what the result is going to be.

"From a Biblical perspective, hope is the last thing to go," she said. "Everything else will go, but hope is the last thing to go. That's what we have to hold on to. That's what gets us through ... knowing no matter where he's at, God's with him, and he's going to protect him, wherever that may be or however that may be."

Maria Samusenko, 19, said her brother is mature and very responsible. He recently was voted Mr. Family Man by their youth group at the Russian-Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church, where they attend, she said.

"The hardest part is not knowing exactly what happened to him," Maria Samusenko said. "Is he alive? Has he been hurt? Has he been kidnapped?

"What's getting us through the day is God's word, knowing he knows what's going on and he's in control."

PRAYER VIGIL SCHEDULEDA prayer vigil will be held for missing Erie teen Jacob Samusenko.The vigil is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Bethel Baptist Church, 1718 W. 38th St. It is open to the public.

HOW YOU CAN HELPAnyone with information about Samusenko's whereabouts is asked to call Erie police Detective Sgt. Dominick DiLullo at 870-1156 or the Erie police officer in charge at 870-1120.